Hi, My names Paul Foley - and I'm a bee keeper.
I'm a bee keeper here in Switzerland, specifically in a small village called Chavannes de Bogis which is down near Geneva.
I've been doing this for a couple of years now and there's a few things that you might like to know:
- The bees live in a nature reserve
- The bees food source is a combination of forest, pasture and biological agricultural - that is to say that the farmers who grow crops around the hives are growing bio products, so nothing that needs masses of chemicals adding to it
- I do not feed the bees during honey production
- I do not add chemicals to the hives during honey production (or before)
- I do not move the bees
- I process the honey by hand and within 3km of the hive location
Some of this stuff may seem a little over the top however it's important to note that in Switzerland the rules for keeping bees are quite strict - especially when we consider say the English or French (and let's not even talk about the USA) methods.
For example,
- The bees are considered as livestock by the state, therefore any bee hives must be registered and periodically inspected
- During the honey producing periods of the year we are not permitted to feed the bees (because if I feed the bees during honey production you're just getting a jar of yellow sugar)
- The chemicals that may be used in the hive are specified by the state Bee research center and veterinary service - and there are times in the year that they still can not be used
- Under no circumstances am I allowed to add antibiotics to the hive (in France and USA at least this is common place)
The above rules are of course understandable and from a consumer perspective desirable (would you really want to feed your children chemically polluted sugar?) - but what about the other points?
Why don't I move the bees and why is it a big deal that the honey is processed by hand and within a few kilometers?
One of the things that bees don't do well is deal with stress - when you start moving the hives around it causes them stress. The stress weakens them and makes them more susceptible to disease (if you begin to suffer from stress you probably catch a cold easier - same thing for the bees).
And of course we should also remember that these are living creatures - so happy bees make happy honey! (yes I know, a bit flowery but I strongly believe that the quality of food that an animal provides is directly related to the quality of its life - hence nice life, nice food).
So what's the deal with hand produced and close?
A lot of producers will produce their honey using machines; These machines typically heat the honey during the processing - this heating changes the colour (more heat more change) and will also change the taste (more heat more change).
So my stuff is processed at room temperature and by hand with no additional heating, this means that what I put in jars is as close as you're going to get to what the bees put in the honey comb.
And the travel?
We live in a world where our carbon foot print is becoming more and more important (some would argue that it was important 20 years ago and now it's REALLY important), we also live in a world where it's quite common to find your supermarket is selling you garlic from China (Co-op) - so just how much of a foot print does your food production leave?
That being said there's also more health benefits in eating food which is produced locally.
So, I'm keeping bees in a green manner and making sure that they're looked after properly (and live in a nature reserve) - how cool is that?
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